In the early days of September 2026, on the 685 high point in Thanh Thuy commune, Tuyen Quang province, each stone is being uncovered by officers and soldiers of the Military Command (CHQS) of Tuyen Quang province to find a way into the collapsed cave, where there is information about martyrs who may still be lying there.
Hill 685 was once one of the areas where the fiercest battles took place on the Vi Xuyen front in the northern border defense war. Here, bombs and bullets plowed every square meter, collapsing solid caves.
From information from veterans who fought at high point 685, the Team for Searching and Repatriating Martyrs' Remains, Tuyen Quang Provincial Military Command is drilling through each stone to trace the cave entrance with the hope of finding the remaining martyrs.
Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Huu Tiep, Deputy Head of the Team for Searching and Repatriating Martyrs' Remains, said that the information provided by veterans who directly fought at the 685 high point is very important, helping to cordon off the search area on the ground.
However, due to the complex terrain, soil and rocks collapsed and buried for a long time, the terrain has changed a lot, accurately determining the location is not easy. The task force must be persistent, cautious, and carefully check each sign so as not to miss valuable information," Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Huu Tiep informed.
Using many professional measures such as comparing with records, maps, and documents about battles along with the accounts of witnesses, the Team for Searching and Repatriating Martyrs' Remains carefully assembled information to identify key areas.
From the beginning of 2026 to now, through verification, investigation and survey of the area, the province has identified 7 areas with a total of 147 pieces of information serving the search for martyrs' remains.
Colonel Nguyen Minh Khoi - Deputy Political Commissar of Tuyen Quang Provincial Military Command said that one of the major difficulties today is that the source of information about martyrs and martyrs' graves is increasingly scarce, and the accuracy is not uniform.
Many areas expected to still have remains are located on high points, in caves, crevices, rock crevices buried after shelling, the dangerous terrain makes it impossible for motorized vehicles to access, the search work mainly relies on human strength," Colonel Nguyen Minh Khoi shared.
However, with high determination, for many months, officers and soldiers of the Team for Searching and Repatriating Martyrs' Remains have persistently and persistently flipped through each stone, dug every meter of soil with the desire to soon bring back the children who sacrificed for the Fatherland.
According to the Provincial Military Command of Tuyen Quang, by the beginning of September 2026, the peak period of implementing the campaign "500 days and nights to promote the search, repatriation and identification of martyrs' remains", the forces have searched and repatriated 59 martyrs' remains.
In the fight to protect the northern border of the Fatherland, in Ha Tuyen province (now Tuyen Quang), there were 4,267 martyrs who sacrificed. Currently, the forces have searched and gathered 3,174 martyrs, and 1,093 martyrs need to continue to be searched and gathered.
The search and repatriation of remains of fallen soldiers remaining is not only a task but also an order from the heart, a gratitude and repayment for the heroic sacrifices of the fallen soldiers to protect the territorial integrity of the Fatherland.
